Dear MEL Topic Readers,
Plants aren’t silent. They make clicking sounds, a study finds
When we are surrounded by plants in a quiet place, we feel peaceful and
enjoy a noiseless environment. But are all plants really mute? Recently, researchers
set up a closed environment to record the sound of plants with an ultrasonic
microphone at very low frequencies that are difficult to be detected by human ears.
Some of the plants were stressed, having been cut their stems or not watered
for five days, and others were in a good state. They found that those stressed
plants emitted popping or clicking sounds irregularly but distinctly, 30 to 50
times per hour, much more often than unstressed plants, which made only one or
so in an hour. The researchers think the noises were made when air bubbles in
the plant’s water column collapsed. If so, does that sound like a call for
help? Well, even though sounds in the world are not always intentionally
generated, other organisms can benefit from the sounds. For example, female
moths might avoid such noise-making stressed flowers to lay eggs on. So, if the
plants in your room aren’t in a good shape, you might be hearing their stress.
Enjoy reading the article and learning about the sound of plants.
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/03/30/world/plants-make-sounds-scn/index.html
Dear MEL Topic Readers,
India’s Indigenous people pay price of tiger conservation
The tiger, on average, is the world’s biggest living cat species. Tigers
require large contiguous areas of habitat to support their needs for prey and grow
their offspring. After a century of decline, the overall wild tiger population
is starting to tick upward through various conservation efforts. It is
estimated that around 4,500 tigers remain in the wild now mainly in India, and also
in Nepal, Bhutan, Russia, and China, but much more work is needed to protect
this species. In fact, because of the aggressive and protective conservation
effort in the last 50 years, India is now home to about 3,000 tigers, over 75
percent of the world’s wild tiger population. In the meanwhile, many indigenous
people who used to live in the protected areas were displaced in the name of
conservation, having lost access to natural resources and traditional assets in
the area. Indeed, the tiger is endangered species but those indigenous peoples
are also vulnerable to changes in the environment. Conservation efforts shouldn’t
be limited to only wildlife animals.
Enjoy reading the article about India’s tiger conservation efforts and side
effects.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/4/9/indias-indigenous-people-pay-price-of-tiger-conservation
Dear MEL Topic Readers,
The ‘world’s best’ cities for public transit, according to Time Out
Getting to your travel destination is just the beginning of your trip.
Getting around the place is what makes your trip more fulfilling and enjoyable.
Unless you can just walk or cycle around the place, you’ll need some means of
transportation, such as a car, bus, train, tram, or boat. And unless you hire a
car or hail a taxi privately, you’ll most likely use public transportation, especially
in major cities like New York, Paris, or Tokyo. Then which mega-cities have
easy and safe to get around public transportation systems? The best way to find
that is to ask the local users. According to polls from 20,000 people in 50
cities, some of the European and Eastern Asian cities are ranked high, such as
Berlin, Prague, Tokyo, and Singapore. Another factor that needs to be
considered is easy-to-understand guidance for foreign visitors, whether they
are shown or announced. Also, one-for-all, non-cash payment helps visitors get
around without carrying cash or buying tickets each time they get on a bus or
train. So, next time you plan to visit a foreign city, you may study what the local
transportation system is like
Enjoy reading the article and learning about what cities are easy to
get around.
https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/world-best-cities-public-transit-photos/index.html
Dear MEL Topic Readers,
How mobile phones have changed our brains
Many of us use our smartphones for a few hours or longer a day. But do
you have any idea how many times you check your phone a day? A report found
that US adults check their phones 344 times a day on average. That’s once every
2.8 minutes in waking time, more than necessary for most people. Indeed, most
of us are so obsessed with the convenient yet addictive device nowadays. But what’s
wrong with it besides our eyes? Well, you need to be aware that multitasking impairs
our memory and performance. Reading or sending messages while driving is
definitely out of question. It’ll lose your attention from the road and slow
your reaction time. Also, when you try to perform a task that requires
concentration like desk work or exams, your phone distracts your attention away
from the task even if you don’t use or touch it. It seems that your mind is so
dependent on the phone if it is accessible. So, if you need to work on some
task such as driving, cooking, writing, reading, or talking with someone, you’d
better put your phone away from you. You’ll generate better results and
relationships.
Enjoy reading the article and learning about what your smartphone does
to you.
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20230403-how-cellphones-have-changed-our-brains
Dear MEL Topic Readers,
Myanmar coup: Thousands of Burmese flee to Thailand after intense
fighting
Myanmar, also known as Burma until 1989, is the largest country by area
in Mainland Southeast Asia with a population of 54 million. The majority of the
population is Buddhists but there are Muslims like the Rohingya people, who have
suffered genocide and forced displacement by the military since 2017, many of
whom fled to neighboring Bangladesh. On February 1, 2021, the military regime took
control of the country from a democratically elected government by coup. It led
to continuous ongoing widespread protests in Myanmar and has been marked by
violent political repression by the military, as well as a larger outbreak of
the civil war. Since then, the nation’s political, economic, and humanitarian
crisis has only grown direr, with reports indicating nearly 3,000 killed,
nearly 17,000 detained, and more than 1.5 million displaced. People in various regional
and ethnic groups formed armed forces and have been fighting with the military intensively
around the country. It’s a civil war. Recently, as fighting between the
military and militias intensifies, thousands of Burmese people fled to Thailand
looking for shelter. Indeed, there are already many Burmese refugees who had
crossed the border and settled in Northern Thailand. Since its independence in
1948, Myanmar has had a very short and limited democracy. When will the Burmese
people be able to enjoy peace?
Read the article and learn about this ongoing crisis in Myanmar.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-65210336
Dear MEL Topic Readers,
Here’s the real reason to turn on airplane mode when you fly
To prepare for landing, all of the passengers are required to fasten
their seatbelts and put their seats and trays upright. Also, many airlines ask
passengers to set phones and tablets to flight mode or turn them off, but not
all. Indeed, airlines that offer inflight Wi-Fi services don’t need to bother
their passengers to switch the device mode any longer. In fact, modern mobile communication
had not interfered with airplanes’ communication or navigation systems until the
5G wireless network became popular. In the meanwhile, more airplanes have been
equipped with Wi-Fi services, which neither cause any troubles nor impair
safety during the flight, take-off, or landing. That’s why you may still be
told to turn off or change the mode of your phone or tablet before landing
depending on the flight.
Enjoy reading the article and learning about the safety tips on your flight,
especially during landing.
https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/airplane-mode-reasons-why/index.html
Dear MEL Topic Readers,
How do fish survive in the deep ocean?
Recently, video footage of snailfish was released by oceanographic
scientists. What is surprising is that the film was recorded at a depth of
8,336 meters just above the seabed in the Izu-Ogasawara trench off Japan. Until
1977, life in the deep ocean had been thought impossible. But around hydrothermal
vents, volcanic vents on the seabed, where geothermally heated water is
discharged, biological communities get heat and nutrients found in the dusty
chemical deposits and hydrothermal fluids. So, even in the deep ocean with
complete darkness and freezing temperatures, some ocean creatures, such as
snails, shrimp, crabs, and fish are found. But how can those creatures survive under
extreme pressure? For every 10 meters you go down, the pressure increases by one
atmosphere. So, at a depth of 8,000 meters, the pressure is approximately 800 atmospheres
or 800 times greater than the pressure at sea level. It’s like putting scores
of elephants standing on your head! There is some mechanism that allows fish to
swim naturally under such pressure.
Enjoy reading the article and learning about the mechanism of deep-sea
creatures.
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20230404-how-do-animals-survive-in-the-deep-ocean
